Guys,

Getting parts to do coolant flush. Billet housing seems highly recommended, but that many have had difficulty getting the billet housing to seal.

PB housing bolts before removal and replace with new bolts w/ anti-seize?

Any additional o-rings or gaskets needed? RTV or not?

I,ve read that some think the 203 stat drives oil temps to high, or use stock 195(??)

Truck is 2002 w/ 84K miles

All input is very much appreciated.

DND58

 

It's been awhile since I installed mine, but I'll try to help. I had no problems getting mine to seal. I took the old one off, scraped the scale off, chased the threads and then blew the holes out with compressed air. It's never had an issue, and it's been about 2 years. I really like the billet compared to the stamped metal housing.

 

I thought I was a real smart cookie. WGAS about the instructions. I knew better. Well, I had leaks. Couldn't stop it to save my life. This time, I got fresh long bolts (One of the OEM ones is short, IIRC), cleaned the surface, put the housing down, tighten them one at a time and went around getting it tighter and tighter and now there are no leaks. I did it previously by tightening one end down, then the other and then the other. Bad move. Snug them up and tighten bit by bit. I also replaced the O-ring with a Ford one.

 

I had zero problems with mine.

I too scraped the surface to insure a good seal with the billet housing. Then I screwed the housing down the same way Andrew did, by snugging one screw down at a time, then tightening them down one at a time.

I used the O-ring that came with the thermo from Dieselsite.

No problems whatsoever.

Stewart

 

FYI, If I had done it right the first time, I would not have to do it again. Like they say, do it once, do it right and you don't have to redo. I thought I knew better and snugged them tight one at a time without doing it right. I suspect the O-ring was fine except for the fact that I don't reuse O-rings once I remove them and I couldn't get another one from Dieselsite as fast as the Ford dealership down the road.

 

LOL! Now that woulda been quite a feat for Dieselsite if they could have!

Stewart

 

couple years on mine and no leaks whatsoever. I don't think i would even consider staying with a stock housing ever again after looking at the difference.
I also have the 203 thermostat, don't notice any issues with water or egt, although I don't have a oil temp gauge so can't give any info there.

 

I just installed mine about two months ago. The only issue I have is one of the bolts broke. I fought a while to get it out and gave up figuring I would need to replace the water pump to fix the issue. Well I had to use my pickup the next morning so I tightened up two bolts on the new housing hoping for only a small leak. Much to my surprise I had no leak. Still have no leak! I have been watching it for a hint of a leak, but it is dry as a bone. That bullet housing is strong enough to seal with only 2 of the 3 bolts. I do however have a water pump waiting for free time to swap it.

 

Mine leaked big time,i used rtv to seal it and no problems for as of now.